AUXILIARY VERBS

FURQON EDI WIBOWO, M.Pd

 AUXILIARY VERBS
Auxiliary or helping verbs are verbs that add
functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in
which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect,
modality, voice, emphasis, etc.
 AUXILIARY VERBS

There are primary auxiliaries such as

be, have, do, and modals
 AUXILIARY VERBS
Be : Am, Is, Are / Was, Were
Have : Has, Had
Do : Does, Did
Modals : Can, Shall, Will, Must, etc
Could, Should, Would, etc
 AUXILIARY VERBS

USES:
1. To answer yes / no questions;
2. To avoid repetition;
3. To construct elliptical constructions;
4. To construct question tags;
5. To show emphasis in a sentence.
 SHORT ANSWERS

We use them instead of answering just YES

or NO. It sounds more polite and natural.

Examples:
• Do you speak German? No, I don’t.
• Are they at home? Yes, they are.
• Can we stay here? Yes, you can.
 TO AVOID REPETITION

To avoid repeating the main verb / verb

phrase:

Examples:
• I love comedies, but my husband doesn’t.
• Erin is studying, but John isn’t.
• They can say what they want, but we can’t.
 ELLIPTICAL CONSTRUCTION
We use Elliptical Construction to agree or
disagree with what someone has just
said.
• If someone says something positive and we
agree with them we can use
SO + aux/modal + pronoun.
pronoun + aux/modal + TOO

• If someone says something negative and we

agree with them we can use
NEITHER + aux/modal + pronoun.
Pronoun + aux/modal + not + EITHER
 ELLIPTICAL CONSTRUCTION
Examples:
• A:I love comedies.
• B: So do I.
• A: Shhh! Erin is studying.
• B: So am I.
• A: I can’t open the door.
• B: Neither can I
• A:I won’t say anything
• B: Neither will I.
 QUESTION TAGS
Tag questions are used:
• To ask another person to agree with you
It’s a nice day, isn’t it?
(Intonation goes down)
It’s not really a question.

•To check something which you think is true

Jack isn’t your brother, is he? (Intonation
goes up)
It’s a real question.
 QUESTION TAGS

They are formed by an auxiliary verb and a

pronoun.

Examples:
➢ Jack isn’t your brother, is he?
➢ Mabel lives in Cardiff, doesn’t she?
➢ They have finished their homework, haven’t
they?
 QUESTION TAGS

Add a negative question tag (-) to a positive

statement (+)
•We get too much homework, don’t we?

Add a positive question tag (+) to a negative

statement (-)
•The police don’t have many clues, do they?
 ANSWERING TAG QUESTIONS

You have coffee every morning, don’t you?

Agree Disagree
Yes, I do. No, I don’t.

You don’t like classical music, do you?

Agree Disagree
No, I don’t. Yes, I do.
 TO SHOW EMPHASIS
• It is common to use auxiliary verbs in positive
sentences when we contradict or deny what
someone has said or when we want to give
extra emphasis.
• In these sentences the auxiliary is stressed
strongly.
Examples:
• A: Are you a vegetarian?
• B: I do eat meat, but I prefer fish.
• A: You didn’t lock the door.
• B: I did lock the door.
 “ECHO” QUESTIONS
• We make “echo” questions to show an
interest in what someone is saying.
• They’re called “echo” questions because
they repeat a part of what the other
speaker has said.
•They have a rising intonation.
Examples:
• A: I love Coldplay.
• B: Do you?
• A: They don’t eat meat.
• B: Don’t they?